Management and Marketing - Doctoral Theseshttp://hdl.handle.net/10468/621
Thu, 21 May 2015 11:55:03 GMT2015-05-21T11:55:03ZThe brand-orientated play-community: toxic play in the marketplacehttp://hdl.handle.net/10468/1354
The brand-orientated play-community: toxic play in the marketplace
O'Sullivan, Stephen Robert
This ethnographic study makes a number of original contributions to the consumer identity projects and the marketplace cultures dimensions of consumer culture theory research. This study introduces the notion of the brand-orientated play-community, a novel consumption community form, which displays, as locus, a desire to play. This contributes to our understanding of the fluid relationship between subcultures of consumption, consumer tribes, and brand community. It was found that the brand-orientated play-community’s prime celebration, conceptualised as the ‘branded carnival’, displays characteristics of the archetypal carnival. The community access carnivalistic life and a world-upside-down ethos via the use and misuse of marketplace resources. The branded carnival is further supported by the community’s enactment of ‘toxic play’, which entails abnormal alcohol consumption, black market illegal resources, edgework activities, hegemonic masculinity and upsetting the public. This play-community is discussed in terms of a hyper-masculine playpen, as the play enacted has a direct relationship with the enactment of strong masculine roles. It was found that male play-ground members enact the extremes of contrasting masculine roles as a means to subvert the calculated and sedate ‘man-of-action-hero’ synthesis. Carnivals are unisex, and hence, women have begun entering the play-ground. Female members have successfully renegotiated their role within the community, from playthings to players – they have achieved player equality, which within the liminoid zone is more powerful than gender equality. However, while toxic play is essential to the maintenance of collective identity within the culture so too is the more serious form of play: the toxic sport of professional beer pong. The author conceptualises beer pong as a ‘toxic sport’, as it displays the contradictory play foundations of agon and corrupt ilinx: this is understood as a milestone step in the emergence of the postmodern sport era, in which spontaneity and the carnivalesque will dominate.
Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/10468/13542013-01-01T00:00:00ZNegotiating the boundaries between home and work practices: The case of home-workershttp://hdl.handle.net/10468/620
Negotiating the boundaries between home and work practices: The case of home-workers
Koslowski, Nora Christina
When people work from home, the domains of home and work are co-located, often under
one roof. Home-workers have to cope with the meeting of two practices that have
traditionally been physically separated. In light of this, we need to understand: how do people
who work from home negotiate the boundaries between their home and work practices? What
kinds of boundaries do people construct? How do boundaries affect the relationship between
home and work as domains? What kinds of boundaries are available to home-workers? Are
home-workers in charge of their boundaries or do they co-create them with others? How does
this position home-workers in their domains?
In order to address these questions, I analysed a variety of data, including newspaper
columns, online forum discussions, interviews, and personal diary entries, using a discourse
analytic approach that lends itself to issues of positioning. Current literature clashes over
whether home-workers are in control of their boundaries, and over the relationship between
home and work that arises out of boundary negotiations, i.e. whether home and work are
dichotomous or layered. I seek to contribute to boundary theory by adopting a practice theory
stance (Wenger, 1998) to guide my analysis. By viewing home and work as practices, I show
that boundary negotiations depend on how home-workers are positioned, e.g. if they are
positioned as peripheral in a domain, they lack influence over boundaries. I demonstrate that
home and work constitute a number of different practices, rather than a rigid dichotomy, and
that the way home and work are related are not the same for all home-workers. The
application of practice concepts further shows how relationships between practices are
created. The contribution of this work is a reconceptualisation of current boundary theory
away from individual and cognitive notions (Nippert-Eng, 1996) into the realm of
positioning.
Sun, 01 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/10468/6202012-04-01T00:00:00ZPerceptions of leadership in the public library: a transnational studyhttp://hdl.handle.net/10468/801
Perceptions of leadership in the public library: a transnational study
Mullins, John
This study explores the topic of leadership as perceived and practised by public library leaders. Library leaders have a wide-ranging impact on society but have been largely overlooked as the subject of serious study. Prior to this study, only one small interview-based study and five survey-based studies have been undertaken on public library leaders/leadership — all in North America. No study on the topic has been researched and published outside of North America. The current study is the most in-depth study to date, drawing on face-to-face interviews with thirty public library leaders. As this study was undertaken in three national jurisdictions — Ireland, Britain, and America — it is also the first transnational study on the topic.
The study investigates library leaders’ perceptions of leadership, and critically explores if head librarians distinguish classic leadership from management practices, both conceptually and in their work lives. In addition to exploring core leadership issues, such as positive or negative traits, the study also investigates the perceptions of library leaders on matters closely connected with their careers. The study investigates the impact of public library leaders on their followers and on the broader society they serve. This study of the perceptions of senior public library leaders, across national boundaries, makes a theoretical contribution not just to leadership in librarianship, but also to the broader theory of library and information science, and in a limited way to the broad corpus of literature on organizational leadership. The study aims to develop an understanding of the perceptions of current leaders in the field of public librarianship. The results of the study show that leadership is a relatively scarce quality in public libraries in Ireland, Britain, and America. Many public library leaders focus on management and administration issues rather than leadership. The study also illustrates that varying leadership styles are practised by the interviewed librarians, and that there are no universal or common traits, even within national boundaries, for effective public library leadership. The implications of the study for both practising librarians and research literatures in librarianship and organizational leadership are also explored and a future research agenda developed.
Tue, 01 Jun 2004 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/10468/8012004-06-01T00:00:00ZThe senior female international managerial career move: a qualitative study in a European contexthttp://hdl.handle.net/10468/802
The senior female international managerial career move: a qualitative study in a European context
Linehan, Margaret
Research investigating the position of women in management has, largely, been confined within national boundaries. Over the last fifteen years, empirical studies of women in international management have been undertaken, predominantly in North America. In this research field, many questions remain unanswered or have been only partially addressed. The particular focus of this study is on the senior female international managerial career move in Europe — a relatively unexplored area. Fifty senior female expatriate managers were interviewed, representing a wide range of industry and service sectors. The study, for the first time, assesses an exclusively senior sample of female managers who have made at least one international career move. This study of senior females in international management makes a theoretical contribution, not only to the analysis of gender and international human resource management, but also to wider debates within the contemporary women in management and career theory literatures. The aims of the study were to develop an understanding of the senior female international career move in a European context in order to more fully understand both the covert and overt barriers that may limit women’s international career opportunities.
The results of the study show that the senior international career move has largely been developed along a linear male model of career progression, a development which, taken together with gender disparity both in organisations and family responsibilities, frequently prevents women employees from reaching senior managerial positions. The study proposes a model of the senior female international managerial career move, thereby contributing primarily to the international human resource management literature. The implications of the study for research literatures in women in management and career theory are also explored and a future research agenda developed.
Sat, 01 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/10468/8021998-08-01T00:00:00Z